Posted by • Forbes contributor Roslyn Layton wrote an essay on SEC’s policy regarding ETH and XRP.
• The article “Why the SEC Treats ripple and ethereum Differently” was removed from the website due to community outrage.
• The article discusses why the SEC exempts Ethereum from a controversial 2018 Bill Hinman speech, but treats Ripple and XRP differently.
Mysterious Deletion of Article
Senior Forbes contributor Roslyn Layton wrote an essay on SEC’s policy regarding ETH and XRP titled “Why the SEC treats ripple and ethereum differently”. Later it was mysteriously removed from the website due to community outrage. An editor’s pop-up note states that the page is no longer active, however, screenshots of the article are available thanks to members of the XRP community. Moreover, digital assets enthusiast Bill Morgan disclosed on Twitter that with certain browsers, readers can still access it in reader mode.
SEC’s Position Challenged
Layton raises issues about why the SEC exempts Ethereum from a controversial 2018 Bill Hinman speech which supposedly provides direction for developing markets but decides to treat Ripple and XRP differently. She argues that this inconsistency may come from records associated with crafting this speech which were highly contested when Ripple sought access to them last October. The SEC has since sought to keep these records secret per Omnibus petitions made in December citing attorney-client privilege as a reason for not making them public.
ETH Free Pass Contested
Layton contests that this position taken by the SEC is difficult to defend given their claim of providing direction for developing markets. She further argues that if these records were made public they would show whether or not Ethereum received a free pass due to Hinman’s conflict of interest or other reasons outlined by agency officials at the time.
Crypto Community Outrage
The crypto community responded with fury after news broke out of Forbes’ article deletion leading digital asset enthusiast Bill Morgan encouraging others to make hard copies of it so it can be circulated widely among crypto circles.
Conclusion
This mysterious deletion comes as yet another controversy around Ripple and its native token XRP after years riddled with legal battles between both parties involved in this case causing much confusion among investors trying their best to understand what’s going on between both entities amidst unclear regulations governing crypto assets within different jurisdictions worldwide.